Coach Bechler

Thursday, May 22, 2014

In the last issue of THE ENCOURAGING LEADER, we highlighted some of the best books to help you become a better leader.This issue’s theme centers around quotes.We asked a number of leaders to write about their favorite quote and what it means to them.

Just as I am obsessed with reading books, I love quotes.The first motivational quote that I ever learned was “Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal”.When I was an aspiring junior high basketball player in Michigan, the state’s Mr. Basketball was a player out of Saginaw by the name of Mark Macon.He went on to have a great career at Temple University.I saw him featured on a CBS special.In the segment, he mentioned that quote.I wrote it out on a piece of paper and taped it to the wall next to my bed.Every morning when I’d wake up, that was the first thing that I saw.

That quote still resonates with me.Through the years, I have worked with many athletes and that quote is still a go-to for me.The Kentucky Derby was held last week.Every time I think of horse racing, I am reminded of this quote.Horses have blinders on that keep them from seeing what is beside them.All they do is look straight ahead.They focus on where they need to go.We’d do well to remember this concept.Why get caught up in drama, distractions, detours or disillusionment?Set your eyes on the prize and focus on the goal.

Friday, December 20, 2013

I admit it; I am an obsessed reader. I normally read 2 or 3 books at a time. There is the book that I read when I am on the stationary bike; there is my evening time book next to my bed; and oftentimes a book for when I travel. My wife has a Kindle Fire, but I am old school and prefer paper books so that I can dog-ear the pages and highlight certain sections.

The books highlighted in the latest edition of THE ENCOURAGING LEADER are books that I'd recommend for anyone in any field that wants to be successful. The books are:

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Today I read an article by a financial "expert"
saying that people should not listen to Dave Ramsey and his financial advice
because people's lives are too complex and important to be boiled down into short
cookie cutter answers or platitudes.Unfortunately,
many other financial analysts have also had problems with his method of
advising people on how to be financially successful.

Dave Ramsey is probably known best for his stance on avoiding
debt.If you happen to be in debt, then
he wants you to get out of debt.Debt is
a shackle around your ankle.It keeps
you from ultimately having financial freedom.His radio show is heard by millions of people daily.He seeks to help his callers get a handle on
their finances during the few minutes that he talks with them.His 7 "Baby Steps" are
the basis of what he talks about.His
book The Total Money Makeover is one of the best financial books I have ever read
(the other would be Larry Winget's"You'reBroke Because You Want to Be").

Monday, December 16, 2013

PULASKI, Tenn. – In addition
to guiding his squad to one of the best starts in program history this
season, RedHawk Women's Basketball head coach Jamy Bechler
recently made program history on a personal level as he became the
program's all-time winningest head coach earlier this season.

Bechler,
who is in his fourth season at Martin Methodist, earned his 58th career
win with the club's 91-84 victory over No. 14 Faulkner (Ala.) on Nov.
16, passing Jana Williams for the most wins in program history. Williams
recorded 57 victories during her four years as the program's head coach
from 1996 to 2000.

During his four-year tenure at
the helm of the RedHawks, Bechler has been responsible for a number of
accomplishments, including a win over a ranked team in each of his first
four seasons. Ironically, it was Bechler's latest victory over a ranked
opponent that lifted Bechler to the school's all-time wins mark.

Friday, July 5, 2013

"Don't tell me how rough the water is, just bring the ship in"...This quote showed up on Kobe Bryant’s twitter feed during
this past year as a “Mambo-ism”.However, I don’t know who originally said this.I have said similar things for years.Among them is the one quote that my players
always roll their eye at when I say ‘Don’t tell me about the labor pains, just
show me the baby.’One of my former
bosses was Andy Carter.He was the Vice
President of Athletics when I was at Newberry College.I remember him always saying that ‘if it was
easy, I wouldn’t need you’.That has
stuck with me to this day.Each of us
have certain strengths that we bring to the table.We have a responsibility to utilize these
strengths to attain success.Another
thing that I constantly say that gets an eye roll from my players is when I ask
them what is in the middle of all excuses.I then proceed to tell them that the answer is ‘U’.The same can be said for what is in the
middle of all results.Obviously, there
is team work involved in a lot of what we do and most of the time, we are not
on an island.However, we must take the
approach that we must do everything that we can do to be successful.John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach,
once said ‘Do not let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do’.You have heard it said that you are normally
part of the problem or part of the solution.You may not be able to do everything, but you can always do
something.If we wanted to, we could sit
around forever coming up with reasons why we can’t do something.That is not productive.What can we do?How can we make things better?Sure, there are many challenges that come our
way that might appear to be insurmountable, but what kind of attitude do we
take?I know it’s cliché but we need to have
a can-do approach.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

While watching ESPN’s 30 for 30 entitled “Broke”, I heard
Herm Edwards say "Every goal needs to have a plan or else it's just a wish."The context
was regarding athletes and the way they handle money, but I thought it was a
perfect quote for more than just money.As someone that works with college students on a regular basis, I see
this problem all the time.People want
things but they don’t always know how to get those things.Even worse are the people that don’t really
want to work for those things that they say they want.I’ve often said that hope is not a strategy.Sure we want to have hope but that can’t be
all.It’s very similar to wishing.Wishing is also not a very good
strategy.The Bible even has a verse
that says ‘Faith without works is dead’.The late singer, Rich Mullins, wrote similar lyrics when he said ‘Faith
without works is like a screen door on a submarine’.You can’t just want or wish for something to
happen, you need to do something about this.You need to work up a plan to achieve your goal.Author John Ortberg has stated that ‘If you
want to walk on water than you’ve got to get out of the boat.’This is similar to what I heard Bobby Knight
say once ‘Every one has the will to win but not everyone has the will to work
to win.”.Yes, having faith or dreams is
a start, but action has to go into these goals in order to have a better chance
to be successful.What are your
goals?It’s important to define
them.But go further, what is your plan
to achieve them?Former NFL quarterback,
Todd Blackledge, once said ‘Work will win when wishing won’t’.Just remember that it wasn’t raining when
Noah built the ark.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

"Success is a Choice" ... I first heard this phrase when Rick Pitinowrote a book that had this
as the title.It is one of the best
quotes I have heard.In fact, I have
borrowed it as the primary motto for my basketball program over the years.It goes on all of our letterhead, locker room
posters and motivational pieces.In
general, every person has the choice of how they act and behave.Oftentimes, people say that they had no
choice to explain why they do something.You always have a choice.The
author and speaker, Charles Swindoll, is the person credited with saying that
life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to the things that happen
to you.Success may not be as quick as
you would like but doing things right and making the right choices and
decisions will almost always lead to success.Of course, the definition of success is not always the same for each
person so it is important to define what success is to you.Your actions and behaviors are your
choices.If you choose to do things that
have a positive effect on your future then you’ll be closer to being
successful.Unfortunately, the converse
to this statement is also true.Failure
is a choice, as well.One of my coaching
mentors, Denny Lehnus, used to say all the time ‘what you do is what you
believe; everything else is just talk’.When I was leaving Kent State University after serving as Gary Waters’
graduate assistant for two years, Coach Lehnus hired me as one of his
assistants at Anderson University.I found
out first-hand that he knew what he was talking about when it came to taking
what you believe and what your goals are and turning them into good
choices.A few years before I was hired
by Coach Lehnus, he had lost a little more than 200 pounds in a year.At one time, he weighed more than 400
pounds.He continues to maintain his new
health to this day. Remarkably, even
though he lost the weight in a year, the success was and still remains a
continual day by day process.As Robert
Collier once said, ‘Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day
out.”

Sunday, March 31, 2013

The following excerpt is from Bill Plaschke's article in the L.A. Times about Kirsten Moore, the head women's basketball coach at Westmont College. She recently led her team to the NAIA National Championship. This story is an amazing example of perseverance and overcoming adversity. Kirsten is a first-class individual and is well-respected in the coaching profession. She certainly has a bright future ahead of her in the coaching world, but as you'll see from Plaschke's great article, it is her past which fuels her present and future.

The women's basketball team at the school
south of Santa Barbara rallied around Coach Kirsten Moore and her baby
after her husband died unexpectedly. Their crowning gift to her was an
NAIA title.

Westmont College women's
basketball coach Kirsten Moore and 9-month-old daughter Alexis, wearing
the net cut down after the title game.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times / March 31, 2013)

By Bill Plaschke

March 30, 2013, 6:11 p.m.

MONTECITO — Her final pep talk wasn't a pep talk at all. Kirsten Moore was beyond pep.
Her final pep talk, given while surrounded by her Westmont
College women's basketball team before the NAIA national championship
game, was her chance to say thanks.

Moore thanked her team for keeping her soul alive. She thanked them
for sitting in the third row for her husband's funeral, for playing with
her infant daughter in the third row of the team bus, for sharing her
pain and embellishing her joy. She thanked them for their patience when
she was weeping at an unseen memory, or staring blankly into an
uncertain future, or disappearing just before tipoffs to nurse her
child.

"Thank you for loving me," she said.

By the time Moore finished talking, most of her players were crying
so hard they couldn't see. They couldn't focus. They couldn't move.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

It has often been said that “Defense
Wins Championships”. As a college basketball coach, I am certainly aware that
there are a lot of factors that work together to contribute to a team winning a
game and eventually a championship. However, I am convinced that defense
is the most prevalent common denominator when it comes to successful teams. As
I recently served on the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
(NAIA) Women’s Basketball Tournament Committee, I got a first-hand view of the
importance of defense. Time after time, we saw post-season games between
nationally ranked teams that were in the 50’s, 40’s and even one was in the
30’s. Many of these teams were scoring machines during the regular season. They
didn’t just forget how to score when it came time to play the national
tournament. Instead, the defense was amped up to another level. If you were a
good defensive team during the season, you were a great defensive team during
the tournament. The old adage may seem too simplistic but there is no question
that defense puts your team in a position to win any game that they are in. In the four NAIA quarterfinal games,
defense got it done as the four losing teams were held under their
season scoring averages by 34, 28, 25, and 19 points. In the two semi-final games,
the losing teams scored 31 points and 26 points below their season scoring
averages. This might only be a small sample size, but the eight teams that we
are talking about were the ranked #’s 1-8 in the final NAIA Coaches Poll.
They are loaded with talent and know how to win. For these established teams
with elite players to be held so far under their season averages cannot be a
coincidence. Most of these teams are among the highest scoring teams in the
nation. They are also among the best on the defensive side of the ball. When
great offenses were pitted against great defenses, the defenses won…at least in
this year’s NAIA women’s national tournament.

Other interesting facts about the composition of the eight women’s basketball
teams in this year’s NAIA quarterfinals:

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

This is the time of the year when there are a lot of open basketball coaching positions. All great athletic directors should have some kind of a
working list of potential replacements if they should ever have an opening in
one of their sports. Yes, they can accept resumes but they should have some names and ideas of people that they might want to go after. This is the same whether you are a DI athletic director or a small college athletic director.

After finishing up
my second year of serving on the tournament committee for the NAIA Women’s
Division I Basketball Championship, I wanted to highlight a few coaches that
would be good options for an athletic director to include on their short lists. Realize that
all coaches that appear in a national tournament have accomplished great things
and done a good job of getting their teams to that point.However, these are just a few of the great coaches
that I observed over the last two years that I wanted to highlight.Some coaches I didn’t put on this list
because I know that they are completely entrenched in their current position
and I wouldn’t be able to hire them away if I was an AD.Others have left the NAIA already (like last
year’s championship game coaches, Mark Campbell at Union and Rob Edmission at
Oklahoma City) so they were not eligible to make this list.

Marty Rowe (Lee University)Ended the year with a 34-3 record after coming up short in
the NAIA National Championship game this year. His record in 9-years at Lee
University is an incredible 260-52 (28.8 wins per year).He has been to the NAIA Fab-4 a total of
three times with 2 different teams.His
2004 Brescia University squad shocked everyone when they played their way into
the National Semifinals before losing to eventual champions, Southern
Nazarene.His Brescia squads never had
the resources that other teams did but he still managed to post a 131-65 record
while he was there.He is a great
recruiter that has made a living of identifying potential DI kids early and
then signing them before DI’s can really get going in the recruitment of
them.His teams score a lot of points,
defend like crazy and are tough on the boards.Basketball-wise, his teams have very few weaknesses.Off-the-court, his teams exhibit a great deal
of class.In 2012, they won the NAIA’s Champions of Character Team Award.

Shelley Jarrard (Westminster University)I do not know her personally and have only met her in
passing.However, I've been extremely impressed with the job that she does with her team. All they do offensively is play team basketball, execute at a high level and get wide open shots.On defense,they are prepared and play tough.They
are not afraid to mix it up.She had 2
NCAA Division I and 2 Division II transfers on her roster so she certainly
knows how to recruit.She also is smart
and secure in who she is as a coach.This is evidenced by her luring long-time University of Utah head coach,
Elaine Elliott out of retirement to be her assistant.Coach Jarrard seems to be very passionate
about her players.You can tell by her
interactions with her players that she has their backs.It is obvious by her player’s behaviors and
reactions that they are willing to be coached by her and respect her.She was the 1989 Gatorade Player of the Year
in Oklahoma before being an All-SEC First Team performer at Vanderbilt.She coached for many years at Kansas State
and Utah before taking over last year at Westminster.In just two years as a head coach, she has
already established herself as a top-notch leader.Ironically, in both of her years as a head coach,
Westminster has lost in the National Tournament to the eventual National Champs
(Oklahoma City and Westmont). Her career record now stands at 79-16 (.831).

Jeremy Lewis (Cumberland University)After playing a brutal schedule last year and
ending up 15-14, he went out and brought in 4 transfers.Lots of coaches do this; however, what made
this situation different was that most of his starters were still around.He had 5 players this year coming off the
bench that had been full-time or part-time starters at some point during their
college careers.It is remarkable that
he was able to get all of his players to buy into playing for the team and not
worry about playing time.They went 33-3
this year and made it to the NAIA’s Fab-4 before losing to Lee University by 2.
They played in the Mid-South Conference, which sent a total of 6 teams to the
NAIA Tournament.He lost only 3 games
all year…by a total of 6 points! For this special season, he was also named WBCA Region 5 Coach of the Year and is up for national honors, as well. He has
a special connection with his players, knows how to motivate and can absolutely
get his team to play defense.

Bethany Miller (Biola University) I spent 10 days this
year working side-by-side with her on the tournament committee.I have never been around a person that was
more astute and perceptive while watching basketball than Bethany.There were a number of times that she picked
up on things that teams were doing that I hadn’t picked up on….and they were
teams that were in my own conference.She spent seven years as an assistant at Biola being mentored and
prepared by Coach Ken Crawford to take over.She has a doctorate degree and could be making a lot of money in something
other than small-college coaching, but she has a sincere love for the
profession and really seems to desire the best for her players and team.Can she coach?This year she beat 3 ranked teams, while
playing in the conference that included 2013 National Champs, Westmont.Last season, in her rookie season, she led Biola to the Elite 8 after pulling off two giant upsets along the way including one against #7 ranked Lee University.Watching her coach in last season’s tournament was impressive.Getting to know her at this year’s tournament
helped me to understand how she achieved so much success at last year’s
tournament.

The views and opinions expressed on any of Coach Bechler's websites and/or blogs are intended to be helpful, insightful and/or entertaining. In no way does any of it represent the views of, or wish to offend any of my employers, my friends or family.